Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum signed a pledge this week vowing to enact measures in support of traditional marriage, if elected. The anti-gay pledge was drafted by the National Organization for Marriage and outlines measures to prohibit federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
The president of the National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, expressed his excitement at the candidates’ decision to support the marriage pledge, stating, “We are grateful to Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum for their courage and their leadership in standing up for marriage, and so are millions of Americans who care about protecting marriage.” Brown also commended the “marriage champions” for their efforts to “go beyond words to commit to concrete actions.”
Despite the throngs of GOP members who support traditional marriage, not all Republicans are as enthusiastic as Brown over the trio’s decision to sign the pledge. Christian Berle, deputy executive director of the National Log Cabin Republicans, said that, by signing the pledge, the candidates had merely “detracted from our party’s commitment to addressing issues that matter to all Americans.” He added, “The last thing Republicans need or want is another group pushing the same outdated social agenda under new branding.”
The National Organization for Marriage’s document is the second pledge released this year that aims to prevent marriage equality – a similar Candidates’ Pledge, known as The Marriage Vow, was released in July by The Family Leader, a prominent Iowa group that promotes Christian conservative social values. Both documents require candidates to pledge their support of a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, and their intent to appoint judges and U.S. attorneys who “will respect the original meaning” of the Constitution as it relates to marriage.
By signing the most recent pledge, Romney, Bachmann and Santroum have also promised to “defend in court the Defense of Marriage of Act, a 1996 law that prohibit federal recognition of same-sex marriage.”
Don’t you find it a bit ironic (moronic) for a Mormon to criticize anybody else’s definition of what constitutes a traditional marriage?
Ron Paul supports same sex marriage.